Dr. Kumar:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the average time elapsing from diagnosis to start of treatment for cancer patients resident in (a) England, (b) the North East, (c) Tees Valley and (d) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency in each year since 1997. [297205]

Ann Keen:
Statistics on average waiting times between diagnosis and first treatment for cancer are not collected centrally. The cancer waiting time standard of a maximum wait of 31 days from diagnosis of cancer to first cancer treatment was introduced for all patients from December 2005. Statistics showing overall performance are published on a quarterly basis on the Department's website.

The following table shows performance against this standard for quarter 1 of 2009-10 (April-June 2009) for healthcare providers in the North East Strategic Health Authority area.

Performance of healthcare providers in NHS North East area against the cancer waiting times standard of a maximum of 31 days from diagnosis of cancer to first cancer treatment for quarter 1 of 2009-10.

Healthcare provider

Percentage of patients receiving first cancer treatment within 31 days of cancer diagnosis

South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust

100

City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust

98.7

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

99.2

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

98.2

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

99.7

South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust

98.6

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust

98.8

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust

99.5

All providers in NHS North East area

98.8

Source:
Department of Health Cancer Waiting Times Statistics.

For the same period, the reported performance for England was 98.1 per cent.

Dental Services

Mike Penning:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 20 October 2009, Official Report, column 1338W, on dental services, what information his Department holds on the criteria used by dental practices to determine appropriate clinical intervals. [296807]

Ann Keen:
Historically dentists have tended to recall patients every six months. However guidance issued in 2004 by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence stated that dentists should have more flexible recall intervals, based on each patient's clinical needs, and that orally healthy adults might not need a check-up more than once every two years. Recalling healthy patients at shorter intervals than is clinically needed does not benefit these patients, and potentially blocks access to the national health service for others.

4 Nov 2009 : Column 1031W

Departmental Fraud

Bob Spink:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many employees of his Department have been convicted of an offence of fraud in each of the last 10 years. [297040]

Phil Hope:
Since 2006 no individual has been convicted of fraud while working for the Department.

Prior to 2006 records were not held centrally and it would incur disproportionate costs to search individual records.

Departmental Homeworking

David Simpson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff of his Department have been authorised to work from home in the last 12 months. [297738]

Phil Hope:
The Department operates a homeworking scheme under which a person's home is formally designated as their regular place of work for some or all of the working week. Arrangements to work from home are made by local managers. Records are not kept centrally about this.

Homeworking is one of a number of arrangements that the Department provides to promote flexible working, including part-time working, flexitime schemes, job sharing, part year appointments, unpaid leave, and compressing the working week into less than five days. The use of information technology also allows many staff to work from home on an occasional basis.

Departmental Internet

Norman Lamb:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department operates any Twitter accounts. [297720]

Phil Hope:
The Department owns five Twitter accounts:

@dhgovuk

@NHSChoices

@careandsupport

@change4life

@nhscommslink

Two of these accounts are experimental and under review:

@nhscommslink and

@change4life.

The remaining accounts are used for promoting information updates, or signposting sources of information on government websites.

East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust

Mr. Gale:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many specialist neuromuscular physiotherapists are available to patients within the area covered by the East Kent Hospitals Trust; [296724]

(2) what hydrotherapy facilities are available to patients within the area covered by the East Kent Hospitals Trust. [296725]

4 Nov 2009 : Column 1032W

Ann Keen:
The information requested is a matter for East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust. We have written to Mr. Nicholas Wells, chair of East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, informing him of the hon. Member's inquiries. He will reply shortly and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.

Genetically Modified Organisms: Food

Alan Simpson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what scientific papers he has considered in respect of animal studies that document the effect of the consumption of genetically modified food on changes in the kidney, pancreas and spleen; [297101]

(2) what recent international research he has evaluated on the effect on the consumption of genetically modified food on human health, with particular reference to the effects on (a) fertility, (b) immune dysregulation, (c) accelerated ageing, (d) gene disruption relating to cholesterol synthesis, (e) cell signalling, (f) protein formation (g) insulin regulation and (h) changes in the liver, kidney, spleen and gastrointestinal system. [297102]

Gillian Merron:
The Food Standards Agency has sought advice from the Advisory Committee on Novel Food and Processes (ACNFP) regarding what conclusions may be drawn from the following publications:

The ACNFP considered these publications at its meetings in November 2008 and February 2009, and advised that it was not possible to draw any conclusions about cause and effect in these publications or to assess the significance of these reports for human health. The minutes of these meetings are available on the ACNFP website at:

Health Professions: Training

Mark Simmonds:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what (a) funding for (i) fees and (ii) expenses and (b) other assistance his Department has provided to each Royal College or Society for development of e-learning for health services; and if he will make a statement; [296755]

(2) how much funding his Department plans to provide to each Royal College or Society in each of the next three financial years for development of e-learning for health services. [296756]

Ann Keen:
The Department does not provide funding to Royal Colleges or any society for the development of e-learning for health services. The Department's e-Learning for healthcare programme works in partnership with the Royal Colleges and societies, as well as other organisations, and they are eligible to have their expenses covered by the Department.

4 Nov 2009 : Column 1033W

Health Services: Lancashire

Mr. Hoyle:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) doctors and (b) nurses were registered as working in each primary care trust serving Lancashire and their predecessors in (i) 1997 and (ii) on the most recent date for which figures are available. [296834]

Ann Keen:
The information is not available in the format requested. The following table shows the number of doctors and qualified nursing staff working at the Central Lancashire Primary Care Trust (PCT), as at 30 September 2002 and 2008.

All doctors and qualified nursing staff at the Central Lancashire PCT, as at 30 September each year

Numbers (headcount)

2002

2008

All doctors(1)

282

327

All general practitioners (GP)

266

285

Hospital Community Health Services (HCHS) medical and dental staff

16

42

All qualified nursing staff

794

937

Qualified HCHS nursing staff

630

784

GP practice nurses

164

153

(1 )Excludes medical hospital practitioners and medical clinical assistants, most of whom are GPs working part-time in hospitals. Note:
Central Lancashire PCT was formed on 1 October 2006, following the merger of the Preston, Chorley and Ribble and West Lancashire PCTs. Source:
The Information Centre for health and social care.

Health: Screening

Sandra Gidley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps his Department is taking to ensure consistency in relation to the choice of providers offered in respect of NHS health checks by primary care trusts; [297296]

(2) which primary care trusts are providing vascular checks in community pharmacy settings to ensure that they are accessible when other services may not be available, as referred to on page 18 of his Department's document, Putting prevention first, Vascular Checks: risk assessment and management: next steps guidance for primary care trusts; what assessment he has made of the accessibility of vascular checks in general practice settings to those in full-time employment; and if he will make a statement. [297370]

Ann Keen:
It is for primary care trusts to commission the necessary services, as they are best placed to understand the needs of their local population. Currently, no data are collected centrally by the Department on which settings primary care trusts (PCTs) are commissioning NHS Health Checks to take place in or on the accessibility of NHS Health Checks in general practitioner practices. The Pharmacy Services Negotiating Committee has however recently undertaken a survey of Local Pharmaceutical Committees (LPCs). Approximately two thirds of LPCs replied to the survey. The results showed that, of those primary care trusts that responded, 54 per cent. are either using or intending to use community pharmacy at this stage to help deliver their NHS Health Check programmes.

4 Nov 2009 : Column 1034W

Sandra Gidley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's second phase of economic modelling for vascular checks which used a pharmacy setting as its basis, as referred to on page 15 of his Department's document, Putting prevention first, Vascular Checks: risk assessment and management: next steps guidance for primary care trusts. [297371]

Ann Keen:
The Impact Assessment for the NHS Health Check programme incorporates the results of the Department's second phase of economic modelling which took into account pharmacy as a setting for delivering the risk assessment element of the check. A copy of the Impact Assessment has been placed in the Library.

Hydrotherapy Pools

Mr. Burrowes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hydrotherapy pools are available for treatment in each primary care trust in England. [297585]

Mr. Mike O'Brien:
The Department does not collect data centrally on the number of hydrotherapy treatment pools available in each primary care trust in England.

Mental Health Services: Young People

Norman Lamb:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many bed days were recorded for patients aged under 16 years old on adult psychiatric wards in each quarter of the last three years. [296893]

Phil Hope:
The following table gives figures for the number of bed days for children on child and adolescent mental health (CAMHS) wards and for children aged under 16 and 16-17 on adult mental health wards.

Quarter

Bed days-under 18s on CAMHS ward

Bed days-under 16s on adult ward

Bed days-16/17s on adult ward

2006-07

1

34,609

75

4,697

2

28,171

25

4,780

3

34,430

38

4,679

4

39,409

53

4,511

2007-08

1

38,359

81

3,954

2

37,935

112

3,893

3

41,184

49

4,255

4

40,072

133

4,926

2008-09

1

37,003

16

4,019

2

36,973

4

3,713

3

39,534

0

2,854

4

42,065

3

3,101

Notes:
1. Data on this issue were first collected in 2005-06 but data up until Quarter 3 of 2005-06 are not comparable with the data for Quarter 4 2005-06 onwards as information was collected on a different basis.
2. For 2008-09 onwards it is not mandatory for NHS foundation trusts to submit returns but they may do so on a voluntary basis.